Tripod



Pateted Mar. 24, 1931 11 A1lini'v OFFICE OSCAR U. ZERK, OF CHICAGO,ILINOI S Application fiiea September 9,1925. 'serial Na. 55,351.

My invention relates to impr'ovements in tripods, and ispart-icularlyconcerned with' improvements in tripods for supporting cameras, vmotionpicture cameras, surveying 111- struments, v.range finders, etc.

The objectsvof niy 'present invention are First, to providea tripodincluding a novel head construction enabling the operator to mount acamera or other VVinstrumenta lity upon thetripod in such manner as'toeither swing freely about; a given axis, or-to beheld o inany of itsadjusted :positions by frictional contacting means, or to be lockedVsolidly lin any of its adjusted .positions Second, to provide 'a tripodcomprising means whereby thecamera maybe tipped from the verticalthroughanyangular adjustment ,within the limits of the'construction andlrigidly held in such adjusted position.

Third, to provlide a tripod comprising means for making a rigidconnection withv scratching the surface of the camera with a camera orother'instrumentality `without which the looking means contacts. o

lFourth, to provide a tripod such as described, in which all the parts,including the` legS, can be brought into the same plane so as toform acompact arrangement for carrylngpurposes, and i Final1y,to provide atripod of the character described, that is comparatively simple'V inconstruction, economical to manufacture,

` and easy tofoperate.

Other objects of my invention willv become apparent as this descriptionprogresses.v refcrence being had to 'the accompanying drawings, inwhichv Figure 1 is a :side elevation of' a tripod embodymg my invention,i

w Figure 2 1s a bottom view; of the head,

Figure 3 is .a central longitudinal section' (f a modifiedV form of aportion of my ini ltszmanufacture and to light-en it, the piecesbeingsolderedor otherwise'secured together. For holding the Aball infrictional contact vention,

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of a'portion of theconstruction shown in Figurel 1, and

Figure 5 is a cross section taken on the line 5-5 ofFigure 1. i V r 1Referring to the drawings, my. Vimproved i and the plate.

tripod comprises an elongated plate 5 having the depending flange 6 andthe upwardly extending, hollow, cylindrical boss 7 formedintegrally'therewith. A hinge lug 8 eXtends downwardly from each end ofthe lplate 5; A bolt.9 extends through the plate 5 and into" the hollowboss. This bolt has a head 9' conformedttqand fitting in, thedepression, 10V in theilower side of the plate'so as toiprevent it fromrotating, andois clamped to the'plate by'means of'the nut 11, aloclvwasher 12 being interposedbetween the nut W Slots 13 are formedV in thel i upper end'of the nut to facilitate tighten-ing or loosening it by'meansof a 'special toolV provided wlth blfurcations adapted to beinserted inthe slots." The head 9' of the bolt is-extended vdown'wardl'yto form a third 'hinge lug 8. A .leg 14, formed of telescopang plpeSections, has a header 15 at its upper end that terminates in a hingelug 16 pivotally connected with the corresponding hinge llug 8 bymeansof a bolt 17.

' yThe construction of the legs fori'ning a part of this tripod maybeConvention al Vin characte'r',V or similar `to that disclosed in mycopending application, Serial No. 55,350, 'filed of even datey herewithand now a Patent,l No. 1,672,596, of J une15, 1928,.and the same com- Vment applies to the means for pivotallyconnecting the legs with thehead.l

A sleeve 18 externally knurled, as shown at 19, is'threaded ontoltheupper end of the boss 7, and extends therebeyond. The upper end of thissleeve is turned inwardly and' heveled or curVed,-as shown at 20, toprovide a seat smaller in diameter than' the external diameter of theball 21. The internal diameter of the' sleeve 18 is slightly larger thanthe eatL-irnalV diameter of the ball 21, as shown in .Flgure 4:, so asto prevent the ball from wedg- I lng in the' 'sleeve This 'ball4 ispreferably formed in twofpieces,ras shown, to Vfacilitate 'with theseat20, I provide the bowl-shaped 'follower' The diameter of the curvature zof `the inner face of this bowl is less than the diameter of thecurvatureof the ball, asa

result of which tlie contact between the ball and the follower isadjacent the outeredge of the latter only. This enables the operatoreasily to develop su'flicient frictional contact between the followerand the ball to liold the latter in any of its adjusted positions.

For holding tlie followcr in contact with the ball, I provide anotlier'ball 23of considerably sinaller diaineter and preferably solid, whichis slidable'in a hardened steelv sleeve 24s, positioned in the upper endof the boss 7. A screw 25 extendsthrough oppositeV walls of the boss 7This screw comprises two parts 26 and 27, the sinaller of which is inscrew-threaded engageinent with, one wall of the boss 7 as shown inFigure 1. Inter- 'mediate these two parts is a. conical portion 28 forcontacting with the ball 23. The screwV can Vbe turned by means of knobs29 secured to the opposite ends thereof, these knobs hav-V ing adiaineter substantially equal to the width ofthe head-plate 5, and beingsecured vto the ends of the screw 25 by means of setscrcws 30. The innerfaces of the knobs are V.pi'ovided--with recesses 31 for receiving theends of the screw. Preferably each end of .the screw is flattened onboth sides or squared shown iii Fig. 5 to engage correspondinglyshapedportions of the Vwall of the recess 31.

From the above description, it will be ap-l parent that when the screw25 is turned in the proper direction the screw will move so as to pushupwardly the ball 23 and thus force the follower 22 into contact withtlie'b'all 21, thereby looking the latter in any desired position.

A screw V32 projects upwardly from the'ball 21 and has formedintegrallytherewith the web 33 and the angular externally threaded fiange 34, thelatter being'spaced away froin the screw 32. A sleeve 35 is threade'donto the flange 34 and externally knurled, as indicated at 36.-Preferably,tliis slee've is'se- VVcured to the fiange 34 vby means of asetscrew'37.. z

,A contact disc 38, recessed as shown at 39,

surrounds the screw 32 a'nd is freely sli'dablethei'eon. This contactdisc has an inner and an outer'cylindrical boss 40 and 41, respectively,the first of which surrounds the screw 32 and acts as a guide, while thelatter has an outwardly fiared portion 4:2 that engages thepbeveled'surface 43 of the sleeve 35.V AV

strong coinpressionfspring 44, confined betweenthe web 33 and'thecontact disc 38, provides means for yieldingly holding thecontacting'p'ortions of the bo'ss'tl and the sleeve 35 in engagement,and also acts AasV one element 'of a friction-clutch in'asmuch as oneend of t fricti'onally engages the contact disc l38f 'and the 'other'end ifrictionally engages the web 33 in suclimanner thatwhen the contactdisc 38 is'r'otated byi the rot'ation of the cam- Vera 'or' other devicesupported by ;the ti'i'p'od,

V21 in the sleeve 18,

this frictional contact will exert al drag upon .the following methodsmay be used in order to secure a cameraor other 'device to it. In

'securing a camera for 'taking still pictures to ,the tripod, the screw27 is first loosened so as to permit the ball 21 freely to move in itsseat. The sleeve 35 is then positioned so as to bring thescrew 32 intoregistry with the threaded socket in the camera, and then rotated untilthe screw 32 has been threaded inwardly suiiiciently to brin'gthe'contact'disc 38 into contact with the camera and with the upper end ofthe sleeve 35, thereby rigidly locking the camera. to the screw. Thecamera` is then preferably brought to a level position and the knobs 29turned'to lock 'tl e ball The camera is then turned Vcounter-Chic tw iseone'complete revolntion,A and from this position it can b turned to anyposition desired, because it is now free to move through an angle of360. If the camera is to be tilted, this can be accomplishedbyplooseningV the screw 27, tilting the camera asniay be desired, andthen tightening the screw 27.'` i i The contact' disc 38 remaiiis infrictional contact with the camera during two complete revolntions ofthe camera so that it 'is possible to make any tdesired 'angularadjustment of the camera with respect to the, aXis of thesci'ew 32. Thecamera may be turned so far onto the screw 32 as to bring the contactdisc 38 tightly into contact with the upper end of the sleeve 36 andthereby lock the camera vto the screw.

To secure a iiiotion picture camera to the tripod, the same'V operationsas described above will be gone Vthroughwhen the pictures are to 'betaken in one direction, but ,whenV Vpanoramic'' views are taken, the'camera is .turnedthrough any part of the two complete revolutionsrefei'red to' above under control of the friction bctweenthe contactdisc 38, spring l and web 33. This rotation may take place in eitherclock-wise or counter-` clock-wisc direction. lThe sainc'operationswill, of course, be used in taking pan'oramic views with the usualpanoramic camera.

V`From the above description, it will be apparent that in securing thecamera to the tripod, at least three stages are passed through. 'In thefirst stage, the camera is freely rotatable upon'the screw 32 becauseit'has not as yet come into contact with the contact disc 38. Thisfadjust'me nt Venable's the screw 32 to be freely screwed'into thecamera. Still orpanoramic pictures during this operation are possible,but not adv'isable on account of unavoidable playbet'ween the screw 32andthethreaded 'socket 'oflthei cammet/,898

era. In the second stage, the contact disc 38 has contact with a side orsurface of the cam- -era adja-cent the threaded socket .inrthecamvibration of the camera as might happen in the first stage describedabove, or to adjust the camera about the axis of the screw 32 and lockit in position by the frictional engagement of these two contactingelements. In the third stage, the camera is rigidly locked to the screw32.

It will be apparent that if it is desired to tilt the camera to thehorizontal, it may happen that the camera and tripod are so positionedthat the camera will render one of the knobs 29 inaccessible. At thesame time the other knob will be rendered more accessible, so that thecamera will iiot at any time be so positioned that the operator cannotturn the' screw 27. Furthermore, the two knobs-29 areV of vuse in thatthey enable both hands'of the operator to be :used at the same time toexert pressure on the screw 27, thereby making; it more easy to` lockthe ball v21 in its adjusted positions. V I i In thatembodiment ofmy'invention disclosedfin Figure 8, the screw 32' extends through thecontact disc 38' and has a head 'a, that is brazed or otherwise securedto the-contact disc. A-slee-ve 85' is formedintegrally with the contactVdisc 88' and extends downwardly therein to enclose the annular flange84' carried. by the web38', A stcm 46 is soldered or otherwise ,securedvto the web 33" and extends through'both sides of the ball. 21', whichcan Vbe made in one or more pieces as may be expedient, the stem being'brazed' or 'otherwise secured'to the. walls of the ball. A split ring 47sprung lnto a groove 49 adj acent the .bottom of the inner Wall ofthesleeve85' provides means for pre- Venting the separation of the sleeve85' and the fiange 34'. A strong compressionspring 44', confined betweenthe contact disc 38'and theweb 38', provides means for yieldinglyholding the bottomlof the web 38' in frietional contact with the ring47, so that in this embodiment of my 'invention there Vis frictionalcontact between the contact disc 38' and one end of the spring, andbetween the web '38' and the ring 47, which can be used for frictionallylooking the camera in any of vits adiusted positions.

while 111m aeseribee the dei-ans of C011-l struction of the preferredembodiment ofmy invention,it is to be 'clearly understood that myinventionzis not limited to thesede- 1. A 'head' for a tripod comprisingarplate having a central, hollow, cylindrical boss extendin g upwardlytherefrom, a sleeve secured to said boss and projecting upwardlytherebeyond, the inner wall'of the upper end .of said sleeve beingconformed to provide a seat, a bail withinsaid sleeve, and means forholding said ball on said seat comprising a `follower contacting nearits edges only with said ball, a second ball `reciprocable in saidhollow boss, a screw extending through said hollow boss and having screwthreaded engagement with one wall of said boss, said screw having acone-shaped portion for contacting with said last named ball for urgingit against said follower.

2. A head for a tripod eomprising a plate having a hollow bossprojecting upwardly therefrom,a sleeve secured to lsaid boss'andprojecting upwardly therebeyond, a ball confined in saidsleeve andhaving means for maklng a detachable connection with a device to besupported, and means for looking said ball in adjusted positioncomprising a screw passing through the walls of said boss and havingthreaded engagement with one 'of said walls, and a second ball' fortranswith said member, the radius of curvature of said disc beingless'than the radius of said member, and means for forcing said ,discagainst said member thereby .to clamp said member between said disc andsaid flange, said meanscomprisinga ball guided forrlongitudinal movementin said sleeve and en- `gageable with the convex surface of said disc,and means forl forcing said ball against said disc. i i

[In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe' my name this 5th day ofSeptember, 1925.

I OSCAR UQZERK.

tails, but is capable of other adaptations and i i modifications withinthe scope of the pended claims.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, what I elaim is:

